WHEREAS, by resolutions of October 10, 2002, May 8, 2003, and other resolutions from time to time, the Alabama State Board of Education has adopted various tests from the ACT WorkKeys skills assessments and minimum passing scores as conditions for initial teacher certification in the state of Alabama; and
WHEREAS, by resolutions of April 14, 2005, February 9, 2006, October 12, 2006, December 14, 2006, March 8, 2007, August 1, 2011, and other resolutions from time to time, the Alabama State Board of Education has adopted certain Praxis II content knowledge assessments and minimum passing scores as conditions for initial teacher certification in the state of Alabama; and
WHEREAS, under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all elementary, middle, and secondary teachers of core academic subjects in Alabama must be “highly qualified” to teach the grade levels and subjects they teach; and
WHEREAS, the Praxis II subject-area tests are suitable means by which teachers may demonstrate their “highly qualified” status through the means of a “rigorous test” of content knowledge; and
WHEREAS, certain Praxis II content knowledge assessments previously approved by the Alabama State Board of Education have recently been updated and revised; and
WHEREAS, certain additional tests are needed in non-academic core areas to ensure uniformity in testing requirements and to implement more educationally appropriate testing requirements; and
WHEREAS, additional validation studies have been performed under the supervision of the State Superintendent of Education in accordance with accepted psychometric principles; and
WHEREAS, as a result of such studies, such tests and recommended passing scores have been found to be appropriate for use in the state of Alabama:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
- That effective September 1, 2012, the “Alabama Prospective Teacher Testing Program” is hereby renamed and henceforth shall be known as the “Alabama Educator Certification Testing Program” (AECTP).
- That effective September 1, 2012, the following changes shall be made to the Basic Skills component of the Alabama Educator Certification Testing Program: (a) the passing score for the Reading for Information subtest shall be increased from Level 4 to Level 5, and (b) the Writing subtest shall be discontinued and replaced by the Business Writing subtest, and the passing score for the Business Writing subtest shall be Level 3.
- That effective September 1, 2013, (a) the Basic Skills component of the Alabama Educator Certification Testing Program shall be deleted as a precondition of initial teacher certification for certain approaches to educator certification, and (b) all institutions of higher education with state-approved teacher preparation programs shall require that each student achieve a passing score on each subtest of the Basic Skills component of the Alabama Educator Certification Testing Program as one of multiple criteria to be met for admission to programs leading to initial certification.
- That the Alabama State Board of Education hereby discontinues and adopts the following Praxis II tests as a precondition for educator certification in the state of Alabama:
| Discontinued Test |
Former Passing Score |
New or Replacement Test |
Recommended Passing Score for New or Replacement Test |
Effective Date |
| 0910 Economics |
520 |
0911 Economics |
144 |
September 1, 2012 |
| 0930 Government/Political Science |
570 |
0931 Government/Political Science |
143 |
September 1, 2012 |
| 0300 Reading Specialist |
530 |
5301 Reading Specialist |
157 |
September 1, 2012 |
| 0420 School Guidance & Counseling |
520 |
0421 Professional School Counselor |
151 |
September 1, 2012 |
| 0014 Elementary Education: Content Knowledge |
137 |
0022 Early Childhood Content Knowledge |
163 |
September 1, 2012 |
| 0014 Elementary Education Content Knowledge |
137 |
| 0031 Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects |
|
| 0032 Reading/Language Arts Subtest |
165 |
| 0033 Mathematics Subtest |
157 |
| 0034 Social Studies Subtest |
142 |
| 0035 Science Subtest |
144 |
|
September 1, 2012 |
| N/A |
N/A |
0622 Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) K-6 |
145 |
September 1, 2012 |
| N/A |
N/A |
0624 Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) 7-12 |
153 |
September 1, 2012 |
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the State Superintendent of Education is hereby directed to take any and all actions necessary to implement this resolution.
Done this 10th day of July 2012